John Gill Bible Commentary

To overthrow their seed also among the nations,.... Their posterity was not overthrown in the wilderness; they were spared to possess the land their fathers despised. This respects later times, as does what follows: and to scatter them in the lands; which Kimchi explains by the discomfiture of them by the Amalekites and Canaanites, when they presumed, contrary to the will of God, to go up to the top of the hill; and by Arad's taking some of them prisoner, afterwards, Num 14:45. But this was not done, nor to be done, in the wilderness: but the meaning is, that God lifted up his hand in the wilderness, and sware there, as Ezekiel says, Eze 20:23, that he would scatter them and disperse them among the Heathen; that is, at one time or another; which he did in part at the Babylonish captivity, and completely by the Romans: which is now their case, and is a standing proof of this prophecy, and an accomplishment of the oath of God.